Probably the weirdest reason for buying a tool? Advice?

[a***nc83]

Hey guys, so once again, i am hoping for some advice. I seem to always be on the receiving end of advice on the forum...but thanks nonetheless...soo here is the deal....

I just got engaged August 13th...and now i guess wedding planning has started...soo my fiancee was talking to me about wedding invitations...and she really likes the idea of a scroll...one problem...they are fairly pricey... we know someone that can do the printing cheap for us...i was wondering if i couldn't turn the spindles for the top and bottom mounting of the paper for the scroll....soo here is my question....can someone recommend a good mini wood lathe....the spindles would need to be about 9 inches long....sooo i'm guessing the lathe needs to at least be able to handle this....

I know this is probably the weirdest request for a tool...but any help would be appreciated...i'm open to suggestions....

 

[DrkMtnDew]

it's cheaper to buy a lathe and turning tools plus the wood vs. buying them?

i really like my dad's Delta 12-1/2''. also i think HF sells one, not sure.

 

[a***nc83]

Each scroll is like $3 each...multiplied by 300...plus printing (they have to do the printing before assembling the scroll)...and so on and so forth....would result in a final cost..of around $1900

 

[JSBriggs]

Are these for programs, or invitations? Either way 95% are going to be thrown away. A wedding is really just an expensive party. Id spend your resources (time and money) focusing on the marriage. The wedding will take care of itself.

My 2¢

-Jeff

 

[a***nc83]

It's invitation for the marriage/wedding...not sure the difference...but it's one ceremony...seems like its going to be fairly religious...we're hindu....soo it's apparently a 3 hr affair... -_-

 

[rsanter]

several points of advice here and take the option that you think works for you

local adult school/ night school
for relativly cheap you can sign up and use their stuff and get it done

hire a college student that has access to a shop at school
college students always need money, will work cheap, and have a better skill level than the HS student

do you have a friend or neighbor that has a lathe you can borrow

buy a used one. I have bought (and sold) many lathes over the years that would have worked for you. I have bought several of the wood lathes for $50 to $100 with the tooling and running

do you need a lathe to do it?
look in the wood parts catalogs and you will find the pre turned ends. these are used for many things including furnature and other arts/crafts.
the center part is just a dowel

do you have a drill press?
a drill press is similar to a lathe but turned up on end. for what you are looking to do you can likly convert the drill press to do the job short run

bob

 

[a***nc83]

Interesting ideas....i didn't think of them... i was wondering about local wood shops....do you by chance know of a catalog that sells stuff like that?

That idea sounds great...i can get full length dowels...and cut them and put the ends on.

 

[a***nc83]

The pre turned ends, are referred to as finials? Is that what you are referring to?

 

[JSBriggs]

The reason for the program vs invitation question is that for invitations, be sure you factor in the additional postage/shipping as part of your costs.

-Jeff

 

[mrholeshot]

Go to the courthouse get married and spend the money towards a house. People go absolutly ******* stupid over weddings. Biggest waste of money ever.

 

[machine_punk]

Actually, this is probably the MOST COMMON way to justify a tool...to build something she/we need for cheaper (including the price of the tool) than it would cost to pay someone else to do it for us...good job paduan learner.

There are a lot of good ideas above for getting this done 'on the cheap...' I don't have anything to add to that.

I would caution you, however, in general. $1,900 for INVITATIONS??? Really??? What kind of job do the two of you have? That's not the dress, the food, the venue, the tuxes...just pieces of paper to ask people to come and share a special day with you. This pattern will continue. If you don't already make a lot of money, BE CAREFUL, this is a very dangerous path to head down (and if any of this is going on a credit card, I would say that is a very foolish choice indeed). (says the guy who has been there and done that and lived to regret it). I'm in a fabulous marriage now...for the wedding, we went to the pastor's office after church, just had her two boys there, and spent a total of about $100. MUCH better than my first marriage, where she was very interested in 'putting on airs' for everyone else. I suspect you want to do a little more than that for a first wedding, but this will set the pattern of spending for the rest of your married life. The single largest thing you will ever argue about as a married couple is money. If this doesn't 'feel right' now, be careful.

Just my 2-cents.
Kev

 

[stltikn]

Double what he said!!!

 

[yost69]

I didn't see what your price range was but I have the Turncrafter Pro from penn state industries. It was about $500.

They no longer sell the model I have but they do sell the commander. I have had mine a few years now with no problems. I have used it alot and it has held up to pen making and such.

 

[filtered]

You have 300+ invitations to make, that's 1200+ finials to turn. Me personally i'd search online for premade finials with holes drilled in them for dowel rods. I'm positive you can find them for a reasonable price. This is just from a quick search.

http://www.woodnshop.com/CRAFT_DOWEL _CAPS_FINIALS.htm

Then just buy the dowel rods, cut them to size yourself. Tons of time and money saved.

 

[machine_punk]

From the other perspective, of time vs. money...

1200 finials. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that it takes one minute each to make them and install them. 1200 minutes / 60 minutes = 20 HOURS! That's assuming you already know how to use a wood lathe and have a finial pattern in mind.

And, remember that most wood productions jobs need about 10% extra for errors, etc. Then gluing or pinning all these things together in a way which looks pretty, and rolling them, and putting them in envelopes...whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.

 

[a***nc83]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom guys...in terms of what we do...we're both students...i'm in the 3rd year at medical school, and she is in her final year of dental school....soo we're definitely not rolling in dollar bills...lolol...which is compounded by the fact that we own a house...soo we definitely went with the smarter route, and bought a house asap...rather than spend our money on a wedding...speaking of which...yeah i know how crazy people go with weddings...went to two cousin's weddings this summer...they spent around $50,000 and after the wedding they are both renting...soo yeah we don't get that logic either...$50,000 would put a serious dent in my student loan....lolol

I definitely don't plan on turning the dowels, i spoke to my neighbor a seasoned wood craftsman (makes amazing furniture...even more amazing tools), and he demonstrated some of the turning , he took a little over a minute to turn a relatively plain spindle mount for the scroll...so i'm sure i will take longer....he suggested the same route....use dowels with finials...soo i'm going to give that route a shot.....

Anyone with suggestions on where i can get a good deal on finials?

 

[jhelrey]

Shipping will kill you... Get a simple card. I RSVP, write it on the calendar, and throw it away.

 

[slip knot]

Your cheapest alternative is to run like hell!!!! Once you get married your tool buying days are OVER. If you cave now to some **** idea about the wedding stuff you'll be steppin and fetchin the rest of you marriage.
Try craigslist, What? yes dear,,, gotta go the ball and chain is callin.

 

[Steevo]

Go to the courthouse get married and spend the money towards a house. People go absolutly ******* stupid over weddings. Biggest waste of money ever.

The soundest wedding advice ever spoken!
Do not spend anything you don't have to on a wedding. There are so many things you will both wish you had over the next 50 years that could have been bought with that money.

 

[Danglerb]

A quick google tells me wedding invitation scrolls are traditional, and a wedding invitation is basically a solicitation for a gift, so I suggest make the little lady happy. Cost appears to be around $1.50 to $25 each depending on the details. Could be money well spent if it fits in your overall budget.
Random link to give an idea of what we are talking about.
http://www.indianweddingcard.com/Scroll-Invitations.html

 

[Brad54]

You're both students, and are going to invite 300 people to your wedding, with $1900 worth of invitations...

This feels like watching some fat lady break a bottle of champaign over the bow of the Titanic.

-Brad

 

[anodyne33]

E
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[woody 73]

Pm sent on small wood lathes

 

[Graymills - Craig]

I would caution you, however, in general. $1,900 for INVITATIONS??? Really??? What kind of job do the two of you have? That's not the dress, the food, the venue, the tuxes...just pieces of paper to ask people to come and share a special day with you.

It gets worse. This will be irregular to the USPS, resulting in tons of postage.

 

[Danglerb]

The "parts" for these scrolls are mass produced in India, the notion you are going to make something by buying a lathe that is remotely the same quality AND cheaper is a pipe dream.

Future doctor and dentist, ignore the go cheap advice, don't ignore traditions of the family you are marrying into.

 

[a***nc83]

Hey guys, once again thanks for all the heads up, and advice. The truth is that, our situation is a little more complicated than, simply what we would want to do. We both come from relatively "well off" families, and societally recognised families....sooo there are expectations of us from our families. And our families have both offered and even argued with us for them to take care of the costs for the wedding....buttt...we want to try and do it ourselves...as it is our decision to get married...we feel we should carry that responsibility ourselves as well....lol if it was up to the two of us...we would have simply gotten dressed and done it at city hall...and had a small private, intimate dinner with our family after....however it isn't up to us, and we have to consider our families' expectations, and traditions...and so on and so forth...

lol in terms of eloping....TRUST me....buying a house and living together...before marriage...is really pushing the boat out to sea in terms of my fiancee's families practices, and preferences in terms of how things should be done...and she was caught in a bit of a storm for it...i'm a little firmer with my family, so while my family had issues with it... i was able to keep it in check....unfortunately she wasn't...soo i am trying to be considerate of her position with her family and my family (they recognise her as the weaker of the two of us, not as firm as i am soo i find them going to her to suggest things), and what they would like and want, as well as my family...just trying to balance everything...and keep everyone happy...but she isn't the demanding type....or spendthrift by any means....lol...she's driven over to the harbor freight in buffalo from toronto...to buy me one of the tool carts, and the wet tile saw...despite coming from a family of money...she's very humble and simple, and hard working...which is why she is with me...since i would prefer to learn to do things myself rather than pay someone to do it...i firmly believe one should make their own way in life...and not simply follow the previous generation's path...

... wow...i seem to be pouring out a fair bit about the dynamics of my personal life here...lol rather than talk about tools....anyways i appreciate all the advice and thoughts from everyone soo i thought the least i could do is share a bit more about my situation...

soo anyone know any good deals on finials or dowel end caps?

 

[dragoocoda]

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